Soldiers, Santa and social media serendipity

I received a call this week to give advice to a wonderful charity that supports severely wounded soldiers, and this led to giving them some Twitter tips. I corresponded with Tal, the chairman of Soldiering on Through Life Trust, for a couple of days before he invited me to dinner, so I met him and his friends in a small Italian restaurant in Farringdon, and they were completely charming.

You may have gathered in previous weeks that I do get a bit star struck, so imagine my delight to be seated opposite the bass player from Sad Café! He suggested that I might be too young to remember the band, at which point I joyfully, and tunelessly, sang their biggest hit – Every Day Hurts. I know all the words!!

He was pleased – he wrote it! He played musical chairs to sit next to me and now I’m his groupie… I posted the Every Day Hurts video on Pinterest and Facebook that night and loads of friends commented on it. Aside from being one of the loveliest love songs of the seventies, the lyrics resonate with the charity’s aims, so hopefully it will go viral in the new year.

And how’s this for a weird coincidence…? I had a message through LinkedIn from someone I’d never met, asking if I could meet him to discuss social media strategy. He had no idea where I’m based, but it turns out his office is only a few miles from my home and they serve lovely biscuits with their green tea… So off I went for a productive meeting.

In the course of conversation it turns out we actually live two streets away from each other! But that’s not what’s strange. A couple of years ago I was waiting for a parcel to be delivered. The TNT driver must have had his map upside down or satnav confusion as, for some reason, he knocked on completely the wrong door, then left a card to say he’d tried to make a delivery. The family called to rearrange delivery to their work address, and when the man opened it and realised the mistake, he kindly – and honestly – dropped it round to us, explaining what had happened. And this is the SAME MAN who has now found me on LinkedIn, invited me for chocolate biscuits, discussed social media and bought my book! Serendipity!! (I like that word; don’t use it often!)

Let’s hope one delivery driver doesn’t lose his way tonight… While you’re gazing up at the stars waiting for Santa, please spare a thought for Tal’s soldiers. I posted Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy lyrics last year – still love that, and very relevant today. I also like this, and you may remember that I met Chrissie Hynde once (although I wouldn’t class her a sparkly, tinselly sort of person). And these frozen and silent nights… Sometimes in a dream, you appear – outside under the purple sky, diamonds in the snow, sparkle. Our hearts were singing – it felt like Christmas time.

Have a beautiful and safe Christmas full of fun and happiness. I’ll still be tweeting, of course, you can find me here: @WeekendWitch

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